Five Key Takeaways from Arsenal's win at Port Vale 

Gooner Fanzine print columnist Charlie Ashmore - aka View From Block 99 - shares his take on his awayday to the Potteries to cheer on Arsenal to victory from the away end at Vale Park 

1 - You can’t beat a pre-match Afghan curry

Having parked up 90 mins or so before kick off that left time for a pre match feed and a quick search online told us we were a couple of hundred yards from the Afghan Palace restaurant.  “It’s just past that scaffolded building”, said Matt.  Er…no…it is that scaffolded building, I replied.  But it was open and the lamb curry looked very inviting.  So we ordered that and a couple of starters and when the food turned up, all together, it was enough to feed an army.  But it was excellent.  Very tasty.

2 - An old school watching experience

Getting to the away end was a trek past the ground, indeed some way past the ground, turn left, then left again and end up in a patch of open ground which has I suspect been the site of many a rumble in the past. 

Past a pop up bar selling only lager (much to Matt’s disgust) and in through the turnstiles.  To be presented with a flight of steps which was absolutely rammed and didn’t seem to be moving. 

More piled in from behind, movement was slow (10 minutes maybe so around a minute a step?) not a narrow gangway splitting the lower half of the stand (which had the benefit of unobstructed views) and the upper half (much of which had views obstructed by great big metal pillars holding the roof up). 

We were in past of that much so spent much of the match twitching from side to side to try and keep an eye on what was going on.  Two players hit the deck at some point and Matt said it didn’t look like a clash of heads.  I said I had no idea – it looked like a metal pillar to me.

3 - a good turn out

Around 3,000 fans had made the trip – it’s hard obviously to tell how many were locals but given the way tickets are dealt with now I suspect the majority were travelling Gooners. 

We had the whole end behind the goal which is probably more numbers-wise than they had to give us but given their main stand was half full (the other half being used for advertising) and given the logistics of only one entrance to the end being apparent, they probably had no practical choice.

4 - it was all a bit flat

An early goal probably killed the atmosphere for the night – we thought we were going to roll them over which generated that slightly complacent atmosphere which a perceived absence of jeopardy can generate.  And the home fans probably thought the same – the plan must have been to keep us out for as long as possible and hope someone could spark some magic at the other end. 

As it was the goal was the only real highlight of a pretty dull first half which we largely controlled in that in that “let’s just keep the ball and move it around and see what happens” manner.  Not much happened.  But nor did we ever feel under threat. 

The second half wasn’t much better as we continued with more of the same.  Port Vale (whose home kit remains by far the best kit I have seen this season) had a couple of threatening moments but they were snuffed out. 

Bukayo Saka got clobbered moments after I had queried why he was still on.  Max Dowman came on and generated a lot of excitement and showed some nice intent and skill.  But there really wasn’t much to get excited about until the second goal which saw Leo Trossard display superb touch and control to bring down William Saliba’s long ball and then a lovely finish. 

At some point, with the attacking options we have, we are going to need to shift gears and start to me more front-footed.  Maybe last night was just about getting through with no fuss and no bother but it might also have been a night to try something different in terms of our mode of play rather than defaulting to the controlling risk-avoidance style that was last season’s feature and, whisper it quietly, is just a little bit dull to watch. 

I am sure the 3,000 who made the journey would have welcomed a bit more excitement in their evening.

5 - Crucially, no injuries

It looks like, at the time of writing, we have finally made it through a match this season without losing someone to injury.  Hurrah for that.  

The fact our squad is so strong we cannot expect sympathy for injuries - but there’s only so many any squad can take. 

Given we were able to make nine changes and still field a very strong eleven, and have a bench that looked unbelievably strong, we are well placed.